Joseph's Jams, aka Blog

Have you thought about how we form opinions about God’s character? The picture of God we carry shapes how we relate to Him. Our Collective View Being raised in a Christian home certainly helped shape my perception of God, but so did looking at the plants and animals around me. As a young child, I wouldn’t have stopped to think about design vs natural selection. I simply saw that these things were cleverly designed, and it was relatively easy for me to believe that God created the world we live in. In Romans 1:18-23, the apostle Paul tells us that ever since the creation of the world, God has been clearly perceived in the things He has made. But Paul also warns that our unrighteous behavior suppresses our knowledge of Him. “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” R...

What follows is a synopsis from my Journey Continues (JC)* experience… I find it quite amazing that God led me once again to process my earliest known wound and that post retreat He used an interaction with another random encounter with a believer to prove/test what I had just surrendered.  In all the modalities offered in JC, I came to view my younger self as an open shelf on which any words could be placed by others. Children that age don’t have the skills to decipher whether or not harm is being done unless a parent is present to protect them. In my case, a parent was present and unknowingly his words landed on the shelf of my mind.  In the removal and rebuilding phases of JC, I surrendered the ability of others to question/minimize who I am and what I’ve decided in the moment. No longer do people have the ability to add to or remove from a shelf of my life. I have the power and capability to do this myself. I need not cower in fear if my path looks different than others’ ...